STEVEN GERRARD’S thoughts will briefly flit back to being rejected by England as a schoolboy and the day Robbie Fowler and Steve McManaman ransacked his bedroom on the eve of his first cap.

Steven Gerrard will wear special boots to mark his 100th England appearance []

Then there will be an enormous swelling of pride when he steps out at Stockholm’s Friends Arena, the gladiator turning centurion, to collect his 100th cap and join Billy Wright, Bobby Moore, Sir Bobby Charlton, Peter Shilton and David Beckham in a select group of players.

And yet even as he prepares to confirm his ascension to one pantheon of greats, Gerrard will also mull over his failure, as yet, to gain membership of another elite band and really rub shoulders with the likes of World Cup winners Charlton and Moore.

“They will always be heroes of mine and heroes of the English public,” he said.

“In football, hero and legend status is given out far too easily for me.

“As far as playing for England goes, there are 11 heroes. The rest of us haven’t really delivered. If they [Moore and Charlton] are 10s, I’m a six or seven.”

In football, hero and legend status is given out far too easily for me

England captain Steven Gerrard

As an insight into what shapes Gerrard into the player and person he is, it is a sentence that resonates above all others in a wide-ranging interview reflecting on 12 years of national service.

That he is here at all, shrugging off the knee injury sustained against Chelsea at the weekend when others called in sick, illustrates his commitment.

A refusal to bask in the spotlight ahead of a night of celebration highlights, at the age of 32, his ongoing drive. But that is not to dismiss how he feels about the landmark.

“It’s something I never thought I’d achieve,” he said. “Growing up, getting turned down at the national school at 14 and not getting picked for England Under-15s. There have been times when I thought I’d never even get one cap. To be here on the eve of 100 is an unbelievable achievement for myself and my family.

“It’s difficult to put into words because when I speak about it the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

“There have been great players before me and ones I’ve played with who haven’t done it. It’s a very flattering achievement.”

What makes the milestone all the more significant is the mental strength, not simply the raw talent, needed to survive and thrive at this rarefied level.

The feat Gerrard achieved in recently collating 600 appearances for Liverpool should not be underestimated but the pressure, he says, to perform consistently for England and fend off competition for his place is even more intense. He is candid in his view that some of those emerging talents infiltrating Roy Hodgson’s squad will fall by the wayside because of glitches in their character as they try to follow in his footsteps.

“Pressure-wise, playing for England is harder than Liverpool,” he said. “When you are at your club you are there every day. Your team-mates become super close.

“The routine of how your team plays gets drilled into you all the time. Your fans see you every week so they know what you’re about and if you have a bad game, you have the next game to put it right.

“With England, you play seven or eight games a year and you are coming into a group you’re not used to playing with.

“Taking a penalty for England in a tournament is a million times more difficult than a penalty in a normal game. The nerves and how your body feels, there’s a lot more pressure than a normal penalty.

“As a player, you need to show responsibility. There have been times when I’ve found the shirt to be a bit of a weight and tried to play through it and get on with it.

“We get criticism at times and you have to take it and get on with it and try to play through it. Some of the younger lads won’t be able to do that. That’s fact.

“Not everyone who plays at this level will go on to be top international players.

“Some will find it too hard, some won’t be good enough, some won’t work hard enough for it.” There have been odd, fleeting occasions when the level of scrutiny, and also the toll he puts his body under, has left Gerrard considering whether to carry on for his country.

Yet for every doubt, there is a reason to carry on.

One is the prospect of finally playing along-side a fit-again Jack Wilshere .

“After the summer [at the Euros], I sorted out the decision on whether to knock it on the head or carry on,” he said. “Then having the captaincy and having players like Jack coming through made it worth carrying on for a couple more years and seeing if things change and a bit of luck comes our way.

“If we can produce more players on Jack’s level maybe we’ve got a chance of going far in a tournament.

“He’s a fantastic talent. I’ve been honest that [retirement] has crossed my mind on a couple of occasions but being the captain and the buzz I get for England outweighs the thoughts of knocking it on the head.”

Time with England has changed immeasurably from when Gerrard, who turned 20 the day before his first cap against Ukraine in May 2000, foolishly left the door ajar to his bedroom and paid the consequences.

Now, youngsters such as Wilfried Zaha are not subjected to the same kind of treatment Gerrard was, with Fowler and McManaman allegedly (and after all these years he is still not 100 per cent sure) smearing ‘Happy birthday – you soft a***’ on the wall of his room,

“I travelled down to that get-together with those two so they knew it was my birthday,” said Gerrard.

“I came in after training and my room was upside down. I told them how carefully I’d packed my bag and my mum had done my undies, ironed all my socks...it was just all in the bath.

“It took me three hours straightening the room out.”

Of his own standing in the squad now, he said: “I don’t want any young lads to fear me. I’m approachable, I speak to them. First thing I do when someone comes into the group is go to their room or speak to them.

“I know how intimidating it can be in this set-up. Not just because of me but because it’s England and it’s new and you are young.

“For Wilfried coming up from the Championship, he is not playing against these players every week. He doesn’t get the chance to speak to them. It’s slightly different for him. I told him that if he needs anything, I’m here.”

As ever with Gerrard, it comes back to one thing: winning. Not caps for the sake of it, but trying to turn that six out of 10 into full marks.

“My interest is qualifying for the next tournament,” he said. “It would be nice to get 120 caps, but it’s not my priority.

“I always go back to what my dad said to me when I was eight years old and going to the Liverpool centre of excellence. It’s basically, ‘You get out of football what you put in’. If you work hard and make the sacrifices and you are willing to learn and you have the talent, you’ll have a good career.